A Year in Review
by taylorwwjd
Summary: Follow Calvin for a year in his life as he deals with all sorts of new changes, such as a new house, a new grade, and even a new baby sister. Prologue now up. Read and Review, please, but remember: no flames.
1. Prologue

The Year in Review  
A Calvin and Hobbes Story

* * *

Calvin tapped his pencil on his desk. The tapping sound echoed off the wood and through his ears while he stared at the piece of lined paper in front of him. It was empty with the exception of the words "My Year in Review" written on the top line.

"Hobbes!" Calvin cried.

A faint sound in the background reminded Calvin that his tiger buddy was currently in the washing machine, and then he'd have to go to the dryer.

"Da--" Calvin started, before he stopped himself. No WAY he would call his dad if it were about school, unless he wanted to do the work extra hard with his dad watching his every move over his shoulder. All while lecturing about how hard work builds 'character'.

_No thanks_, Calvin thought, and turned back to the sheet of paper. It taunted him mercilessly. His first school assignment of the new year, and his mom was going to check the assignment once he was done in order to make sure it was good. If not, he'd have to rewrite it. And then probably rewrite it again after that to take care of grammatical and punctuation mistakes.

_So let's review…_

Calvin had to write a two-page essay about the last year, from September to August. The grade would count as a quarter of the semester grade for Language Arts.

"What did I do last September?" Calvin pondered aloud, to nobody in particular. All he needed was something. Some little spark to make the creative juices flow.

"Hobbes, are you done yet?!" Calvin yelled. The mechanical sounds of the washing machine answered his question better than a verbal reply ever could have.

Calvin realized that he would need to do this by himself, and set his pencil to the paper. It didn't move, but it was there. The first step.

Calvin started to write.

My year in review. Well, what more can I say than that?

"What more CAN I say than that?" Calvin wondered, then got an idea and kept writing.

Nothing, actually, because I was sworn to secrecy by government agents and the President himself.

"Hmmm…" Calvin looked at the answer on the paper. Barely two lines. Not even close to two pages. "I guess I could try writing it _REALLY_ big."

Calvin sighed and let his head fall face-first onto the piece of paper. This was impossible.

"But not impossible for Stupendous Man!" Calvin cried. "Mild-mannered Calvin races to his closet to transform into his super alter ego--"

Calvin tore through his drawers, tossing clothes everywhere, when he suddenly remembered. "—when he realizes that his mom took away his costume after he hit Susie with a rock."

Calvin flopped backwards on his bed, dismayed. This was NOT a job for Stupendous Man after all.

Suddenly, something caught his eye from behind his head. He spun around on the bed, sitting up, and looked out the window toward the large tree out back, leaves turning a crisp orange.

"Oh!" Calvin finally found his spark and raced to his desk and started jotting down words on the page, erasing his previous answer.

It all started one September morning, when everything changed for me…

_

* * *

A/N: So that's the prologue of my new story. I have a tendency to be neglectful of my stories and go awhile without updating them, but I will try my best not to let this happen to THIS story. Read and review, please, but remember: no flames._


	2. Changes, part 1

A Year In Review  
Chapter One

September – 'Changes', part one

_

* * *

_

_A/N: This fanfic is going to have twelve 'stories' in it (one for each month of the year), but each of those stories will be divided into parts. Just so you know._

* * *

"I'm not leaving." Calvin resolved soundly, and pulled his red wagon out of the garage. Hobbes was following him.

"Do I want to know what you're doing?" the tiger asked.

"I don't have to stand for this move. I don't HAVE to move away with my family." Calvin said. The wheels squeaked as Calvin dragged the wagon towards the woods out back. Hobbes cringed at the sound.

"You're still upset about moving?" Hobbes asked.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Calvin said to his best friend.

"So what gives?"

"It's everything. My whole life is changing." Calvin said, sitting down on a fallen tree log in the forest.

"Not everything is changing." Hobbes said. Calvin glared at him.

"I have a new grade, a new teacher, the seasons are changing, I'm seven years old now, and on top of all that I have a new baby sister." Calvin said, spilling his guts out.

"Oh yeah, how's that working out by the way?" Hobbes asked.

"You're just trying to make conversation." Calvin sighed, staring at the orange-painted forest before him. A single leaf fell from a tree and touched the earthy ground.

"Oh, c'mon. You were excited about having a new sibling a few months ago." Hobbes said.

"Yeah, but that's when I was going to have a little brother. Now I have a girl in my family." Calvin said.

"Uh…" Hobbes replied, wondering if Calvin would eventually understand his mom was a girl too or if that fact would not dawn on him.

"But the worst part of it all is that she--" Calvin began to speak.

"By 'she' you mean Mariana, your baby sister, correct?" Hobbes asked.

"What other girl would I mean, fuzzball?!" Calvin cried.

"Your mom?"

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Anyway, Mariana cries all night long. You've heard it, you know." Calvin said, turning to Hobbes. Hobbes nodded as Calvin continued on. "I have no idea how someone so little can make so much noise."

"Words fail me," Hobbes said, and then left, heading back for the house.

Calvin just watched the autumn landscape before him and knew that this would be his last time here, probably. Then he realized…

"HEY!" Calvin yelled, and chased after Hobbes angrily.

Hobbes chuckled and took off running for inside the house. Calvin had caught up with Hobbes and they tumbled through the door, fighting. Though to the movers inside it just looked like an odd little boy fighting with a stuffed tiger.

The brawling friends then collapsed at the feet of Calvin's mom and dad, who were among the last people to leave the house. Calvin's mom carried Mariana.

"Calvin, you have everything?" his dad asked.

"I have checked four times at your request. It is safe to say that whatever there was that could have feasibly been left behind has been discovered." Calvin said.

"Well, check it again." His dad said. "I don't want a panic in the car because the movers forgot something silly that you were supposed to pack."

"But what's the point of my checking it again if I have already checked it several bazillion times?" Calvin asked.

"Doing things repetitiously builds--" his dad started.

"Builds character, I know." Calvin said, moping up the stairs. He turned to Hobbes. "Yeesh! Mr. Character strikes again."

Calvin was slightly surprised by the sight of his empty room, as he usually was, until he remembered, like he usually did, that he was moving. As Calvin guessed, there was nothing in the room. He opened his closet, and it too was empty.

"Hobbes, everything is changing. Nothing will ever be the same anymore." Calvin lamented.

"Well, you still have me." Hobbes responded.

"That's true, but it's still just not the same." Calvin said.

Calvin flopped backwards where his bed should have been only to hit his head on the hardwood floor.

"Ow."

* * *

_Read and review, please!_


End file.
